We congratulate the women’s museum Hittisau to the successful transfer from the municipality to a supporting association.

Now the museum is ready for a more independent future. After a positive development the museum has become a well-known cultural institution also across borders. It stands for a successful special museum in a rural area.

On Intertnational Women’s Day 2017 an IAWM exhibition will be on display in the European Parliament in Brussels. Through images of objects coming from no less than 12 member museums the exhibition illustrates women’s economic empowerment in different parts of the world.

The exhibition provides the cultural frame to an event marking IWD 2017 at the European Parliament. It is organized by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and contains a global forum for national gender equality leaders from the European Union Members States and beyond. The two-day conference is dedicated to an exchange of experience and best practice in advancing the economic situation of women and the gender issues of the European and gloabl equality agenda.

We thank the curators of the exhibition Gaby Franger, Claudia Mandel and Astrid Schönweger and we thank the participating 12 member museums for the successful collaboration!

In the ICOM 2016 General Conference on Museums and Cultural Landscapes IAWM got the chance to present the network of women’s museums, its achievements and goals to an international audience.

One of the central points in the meeting was the relation of museums and human rights. The IAWM presentation focused on our international member museums taking a stand for women’s rights as human rights providing a precious contribution to a peaceful society.

The presentation of IAWM took place within the meeting “The Ethical Museum” organized by the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM) and ICOM International Committee on Management (INTERCOM).

This meeting considered the political, social and economic landscapes of museums and the ethical challenges that these might pose. Some of the main issues considered were: what are the implications for managing museums successfully? What obligation does the museum have to its governing body? And to the public? How can a museum code of ethics support museums to resolve some of these conflicts?

The presentation of the “Antalya Woman of the Year” award took place on the first of February at the Akra Hotel in Antalya.

This year’s presentation of the Prof. Dr. Jale Inan Award was expected with great interest and there were also many representatives of official institutions among the numerous guests. Among them was the deputy governor of Antalya, the mayor and his wife, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Antalya Promotion Foundation, under the auspices of which the Antalya Women’s Museum was founded in 2015.

The day for the award ceremony is always the first of February, the birthday of Prof. Dr. Jale Inan, the first female Archaeologist of Turkey.

She studied in Berlin and Munich because at that time in Turkey it was not possible to study archaeology. In 1947 she became an assistant to Arif Müfid Mansel, the first Ordinary Professor for Classical Archaeology in Turkey, and his successor in 1975. Prof. Dr. Jale Inan was a member of the German and Austrian Archaeological Institute.

Before the award ceremony, a panel discussion took place under the moderation of the well-known entrepreneur and filmmaker Elif Dağdeviren.

Under the theme “To live with women makes life beautiful”, she discussed the role and life of women in Turkey with the guest speaker Iclal Aydin, an actress and author.

Elif Dağdeviren; “The Antalya Women’s Museum is very important for me not just as a woman, but especially as a woman who devotes her life to women’s questions. In Turkey, in Anatolia, on this soil, which is bearing the word “mother” (ana) in the name – it would be impossible not to support such an institution as the Women’s Museum. “

Iclal Aydin underlined the importance of the Antalya Women’s Museum as a platform for strong women in Antalya, who are presented in individual portraits on the website of the virtual museum.

Ms. Yeliz Gül-Ege, vice chairman of the Antalya Women’s Museum, finally announced the decision of the advisory board.

The decision was made on Sibel Önder, a young lawyer. Due to her courage, dedication, empathy and meticulous detective work, 7 years after the rape and murder of the only 16-year-old Sezgi Kırıt the suspects could be arrested. The criminal proceedings are continuing.

On 29th January at 12 p.m. the Women’s Museum Wiesbaden, Germany is opening the new exhibition of Justine Otto. The artist creates wonderfully surreal and strangely appearing visual imagery and triggers reflections about the big questions of human existence.

The new temporary exhibition at the Women’s Museum Bonn is telling female history of Protestant Reformation. This year is the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. The WM Bonn is looking closely at the stories of many female reformers and follows their path towards equality until today.

Within the framework of the 5th International Congress of Women’s Museums, convened by the International Association of Women’s Museums (IAWM) and the Women’s Museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, which brought together feminist women from various countries in Mexico City, 28 to 30 November 2016.

WE EXPRESS

Our concern because, despite some progress by women in the world, we continue to face the invisibility of our contributions in all fields: social, economic, political, artistic and cultural.

In the Congress we verified the normalization and naturalization of a patriarchal policy expressed in violence against women, among the most recognized forms are physical, psychological, patrimonial and sexual violence, and among the least recognized forms of violence are seen in the media, epistemic and symbolic. From everyday violence to the most lethal , including femicides, regardless of age, country, ethnic-racial origin or social class.

We believe that the invisibility of women is a form of symbolic violence that the creation of Women’s Museums attempts to confront, since they propose a space to recover the memory, history, struggles and contributions of diverse women, for communication and the sharing of knowledge. It is a political action to strengthen collective consciousness, resistance, vindication and rebellion against the perverse results of hegemonic neoliberal and heteropatriarchal capitalist structures that affect humanity, particularly women and children.

Our demand to make women visible is an act of justice because we are half the population in the world, and most women still remain in conditions of inequality, discrimination and marginalization, and suffer from the effects of racism and religious fundamentalisms.

WE DEMAND

From the governments of our countries, the guarantee of our rights, a decided support policy for opening up and sustaining spaces for the memory and history of women of all peoples, due to the scarce number of existing places, some spaces are at risk of disappearing due to lack of resources and social and institutional support.

From international bodies, to strengthen their action in the areas of their competence at the seriousness of the condition of women, especially those who are in refuge from wars, in contexts of irregular migration, trafficking of people for labor and sexual exploitation, also in situations of daily violence, all expressions that threaten peace and development in all spaces, from families, communities, countries, to the international arena.

We call on countries, agencies, social organizations and civil society to redouble their efforts to ensure the human rights of women, and sustainable development in conditions of substantive equality that guarantee life with the dignity of the people, the peoples, and the planet that inhabits.

Mexico City, November 30, 2016

International Association of Women’s Museums / International Association of Women’s Museums